Mazzaglia, murder trial jurors visit Peirce Island

Tuesday

May 27, 2014 at 8:38 AMMay 27, 2014 at 4:06 PM

PORTSMOUTH — Temporarily free of shackles and handcuffs, accused murderer Seth Mazzaglia stared at the Piscataqua River on Tuesday afternoon, while a jury that will determine his guilt or innocence was told they were standing where Mazzaglia had dumped the body of Elizabeth “Lizzi” Marriott.

Elizabeth Dinan

Editor's note: This story contains graphic content.

PORTSMOUTH — Temporarily free of shackles and handcuffs, accused murderer Seth Mazzaglia stared at the Piscataqua River on Tuesday afternoon, while a jury that will determine his guilt or innocence was told they were standing where Mazzaglia had dumped the body of Elizabeth “Lizzi” Marriott.

Mazzaglia was brought to Peirce Island under tight security, on land and in water, for one of four views presented to the jury that was selected to hear evidence in his murder trial. Mazzaglia, 31, is accused of strangling Marriott, 19, on Oct. 9, 2012 in his Dover apartment.

Prosecutors say he killed her with a rope before, after, or while engaged in or attempting to commit felonious sexual assault. Authorities allege Mazzaglia and his then-girlfriend, Kathryn “Kat” McDonough, brought Marriott's body to Peirce Island and disposed of it in the Piscataqua River.

Her body has not been found.

The jury of nine women and seven men, including alternates, were sworn in at the Strafford County Superior Court just after noon on Tuesday. A court clerk then read aloud the charges against Mazzaglia, beginning with a count of first degree murder.

As the clerk read those allegations, Mazzaglia nodded his head in denial.

He's charged with two “alternate theory” counts of first-degree murder, a charge of second-degree murder, two counts of hindering apprehension for murder, witness tampering, falsifying physical evidence and solicitation of escape. He's pleaded not guilty to all the charges and is being represented by public defenders Joachim Barth and Melissa Lynn Davis.

Judge Steven Houran warned the jury to avoid exposure to any press coverage, to ignore the media cameras, and to “pay attention to the evidence.” The judge also told the jury that the views they were bussed to view were to “make testimony you'll be hearing more understandable.”

“Your obligation will be to look carefully,” he instructed.

Assistant Attorney General Geoffrey Ward told the jurors they would first visit Mazzaglia's apartment at 1 Mill Street in Dover and hear from a neighbor who reported hearing a scream on the night Marriott died. He told them they would also see a doorway, through which Mazzaglia and McDonough exited with Marriott's body.

As they drove from Dover to Portsmouth, the jurors would also see Little Bay where Mazzaglia dumped Marriott's cell phone, Ward said. Mazzaglia and McDonough traveled back roads, according to the prosecutor, to avoid detection at the Dover tolls.

Barth told the jurors that while they were at the Dover apartment building they should take note of the number of apartments in the complex and consider the possibility of someone hearing a scream. He also told them McDonough was the one who drove Marriott's car, with her body in it, from Dover to Portsmouth, and it was her idea to dispose of the GPS unit in her car.

Traveling in a charter bus, led and followed by sheriffs department cruisers, the jurors arrived at Peirce Island just before 2 p.m. Undercover officers, some with police dogs, surrounded the area while officers patrolled the river by boat.

Ward led the jury from the island dog park along a dirt path and paused to tell them “drag marks” were reported there the morning after Marriott was allegedly murdered. With Mazzaglia and his lawyers walking along side them, the jurors were then led to an area Mazzaglia called “the grotto” — a vantage point high above the river and surrounded by a metal fence.

Ward told the jurors that some of Marriott's hair was found there and he asked them to observe the strong tidal current below. Mazzaglia stood with his arms crossed — wearing dress pants, a matching vest and a white dress shirt — and stared ahead.

While the jurors, lawyers and Mazzaglia left the “grotto,” Ward again asked them to notice the dirt path “where someone saw drag marks.”

According to court records, Mazzaglia confessed to police that he “flipped Elizabeth's body over the fence and it landed on the ground on the other side.”

“He stated that he then threw her body off a small cliff into the water,” according to an affidavit for his arrest. “Mazzaglia stated he recalled hearing the water splash.”

After viewing the Peirce Island scene, the jurors were then bussed to the Residence Inn at the Pease Tradeport where they were shown a fenced-in Dumpster in a back corner. It's there, according to prosecutors, that Mazzaglia disposed of a tarp used to move Marriott's body, as well as trash bags “that he had attempted to cover Elizabeth's body with.”

The jurors were lastly brought to a University of New Hampshire horse barn, where they were told McDonough dumped “some of Elizabeth's belongings.”

The jury is scheduled to reconvene Wednesday morning for opening arguments in the case.

McDonough pleaded guilty in July for her role in the case and was sentenced to 1½ to three years in prison in exchange for cooperating with investigators and her testimony during Mazzaglia's trial.

According to the attorney general's office, McDonough and Mazzaglia were involved in a bondage sex culture and McDonough lured Marriott to Mazzaglia's apartment. Court records state that Mazzaglia told investigators he and McDonough were “sexually explorative” and had used “leather belt restraints” during sex.

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